


Next time, punch me with your lips instead, would you?

by nitorisource



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Blood, M/M, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-10
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 20:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,406
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2282721
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitorisource/pseuds/nitorisource
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>During Sousuke's confrontation of Haruka in episode two, Makoto gets involved and the unexpected side he shows off here will have Sousuke thinking and feeling about him several days to come.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Next time, punch me with your lips instead, would you?

**Author's Note:**

> aright i know these two nerds wouldnt fight each other but i rly wanted these two bleeding and angry at one another and because whats hotter than a violent protective side of makoto ok

“Don’t ever get in Rin’s way again.”

His voice is low and dangerous, and he’s certain that he’s gotten his point across to Nanase.

“Haru?” another voice calls lightly down the hallway. Sousuke throws an irritated look over his shoulder and scowls at the green-eyed member of Iwatobi standing at the start of the dim hall, the one who likes to follow Nanase around like a small puppy despite the fact that he’s the tallest on his team by a good several centimeters.

Makoto begins to take hesitant steps towards the pair, though he’s taken aback by Sousuke’s hostility when he growls, “Fuck off, Tachibana.”

“Y-Yamazaki-kun?”

Sousuke lets out a grunt of irritation before turning back to Nanase, prepared to say something else, but he doesn’t expect the hand that’s suddenly come to grasp his shoulder. A tinge of pain flickers hotly through the muscle there and he whirls around to give this meddling idiot a biting shout, but he falters when he comes face to face to the eyes leveled with his, which gives him no chance to look down on the person.

This can’t be the same Tachibana made of frail courage and warm friendliness that Rin has described. That ever present smile is absent entirely and the kindness to his green eyes have dimmed, replaced instead with a cold and unforgiving edge.

“Please, step away from Haru,” he says in a voice devoid of anything other than seriousness.

“This isn’t any of your damn business.” Sousuke roughly throws the hand from his shoulder and reaches up to give Tachibana a firm shove away, forcing him to stagger back a few steps. Surprise, and even a little bit of fear, flashes over Makoto’s expression but he steels himself within seconds and steps right back up to Sousuke.

“What the hell?” Sousuke scoffs, uninhibitedly pushing him away again, this time much harder. The wincing pain in his shoulder is only worsened by the fact that Makoto rebounds again, and this time his clenched fists are shaking at his sides. “I don’t plan on fighting you, Tachibana.”

“I don’t want to fight you either.” He tries to say this in as calm a voice as he can manage, but his sentence wavers towards the end. Not out of nervousness, but out of restrain, it sounds like. Behind Sousuke, Haru shifts his weight, eyes full of concern at the exposure of this side of his childhood friend. “I hate fighting. I hate confrontations.”

“Then turn around and leave.”

Makoto grits his jaw and takes in a slow breath before answering, “Then please, allow Haru to come with me.”

Somehow, a cruel grin manages to settle upon Sousuke’s lips as he straightens his spine and, this time, takes a step towards Makoto. Surprisingly, he holds his ground even as their chests bump together, and Sousuke is pleased to know that he still has somewhat of a height advantage over this guy, though their fit, muscular builds are very similar.

“How about you fuckin’ try and take him, then?” Sousuke taunts quietly, giving him another rough push. Makoto winces at the force of being thrown back and he regains his composure only in time for Sousuke to close the distance and shove him in the same spot on the chest.

“Well? Go on, Tachibana. Protect your precious little friend.” Shove.

“Come on. What are you going to do?” Shove.

He’s got Makoto backed up almost all the way down the hallway, and out in the lobby of the swim club they can hear voices of all the children and visitors.

“How about I teach both of you not to fuck around with Rin and his goals like what you did at that stupid relay last year?” Sousuke’s arms come up to give him one last harsh shove out into the lobby, but it seems that comment is what it takes to finally have Makoto snap. Before Sousuke’s palms can touch his shoulder this time, Makoto’s own arm lashes out and he harshly slaps both arms away.

“Don’t do that,” he says in a low, steady voice. “I don’t know what your problem is, Yamazaki, but I won’t tolerate you treating us this way.” This time, with just one hand, he reaches up and gives Sousuke a blunt shove on the same shoulder he touched earlier and Sousuke exhales sharply at the pain that reverberates through the rest of his body, but he withholds himself from clutching at the spot.

Well. He was at least eighty percent sure Tachibana wouldn’t bring himself to retaliate in the least.

This is interesting, he has to admit. A side he’s never seen.

“I thought you said you wouldn’t fight me,” he says, bringing another mocking smile to his face. “Well? Go ahead. Show me what you’ve got.”

“I’m not - I don’t want to do anything further than this. Let us leave. The relay will start soon.” Although his eyes reflect how truly aggravated he is inside, he maintains his distance and tears his gaze away from Sousuke’s. They soften when they land on Haru, who is still frozen against the vending machine, and the brunet silently tells him to get out of there.

Haru gives Sousuke’s unmoving figure a glance before taking a step forward, preparing to move around his obstructing body, and is taken completely off guard by the way Sousuke’s arm comes out to stop him.

His hand doesn’t even make contact with the thinner boy’s body. Instead, Makoto wordlessly strides forward and grabs Sousuke by the collar, jerking him up and knocking the wind out of him as he’s slammed into the wall away from Haru. Down the hall, a few startled faces finally take notice and peer in, and someone is already calling for help, while Sousuke bites back a yell of pain and moves his hands up so that his fists bunch into the collar of Makoto’s Iwatobi jacket.

Maybe he’s taken the provoking a little too far.

“Makoto.” Haru’s voice is stern, a little worried, as he reaches up and places his hand on his friend’s shoulder but the brunet doesn’t seem to hear him. Instead, his face is twisted in silent fury as he bores his unforgiving green eyes into Sousuke’s defiant gaze, both their upper lips curled back in a snarl.

“Let go of me, Tachibana,” Sousuke seethes through his grit teeth. He tries to move forward, but as soon as his back leaves the wall Makoto simply shoves him back, this time pressing his weight against Sousuke’s and moving his leg so that, for some reason, it’s forcing down against his crotch. In any case, it effectively sends a shiver up Sousuke’s spot and keeps him from moving in fear of creating any unwanted friction and he swears he just heard Makoto huff out a breath of amusement.

They both stand like that for a few tense moments, breathing hard and glaring murderously into one another’s eyes, until Makoto is the one who finally relents with a sharp exhale, lowering his eyes as he loosens his grip on Sousuke’s collar and takes a step back.

Haruka barely has time to move out of the way before Sousuke’s fist comes flying up, connecting with one side of Makoto’s jaw and sending the brunet hurling to the other wall and half-slumping towards the floor.

“Makoto!”

Without thinking, he shoves himself up and away from the wall and puts his entire body into the punch he delivers, in similar fashion, to the side of Sousuke’s face before again reaching for his collar, but Sousuke recovers quickly and thwacks the hand away so that he can ram Makoto to the floor with a tackle, the top of his head hitting the bottom of the vending machine. Steadying himself over the struggling body, Sousuke bars an arm over Makoto’s throat and raises his other fist, and though the green eyes gazing up at him are disconcertingly unflinching even as he expects the next blow, it’s not enough to unnerve Sousuke from bring his knuckles smashing into the brunet’s face.

He gets in two hits before Makoto gathers the strength to flip them both over, and Sousuke’s struggling is limited by the fact that his shoulder is sore and hurt enough already, so the way Makoto is unknowingly using both his hands to force his shoulders against the cold floor like this is starting to make him worried. Short gasps of agony leave his mouth though his eyes remain hard as he glowers at the wincing face above him, a trail of blood dripping from Makoto’s nose.

Makoto returns the favor shortly, his fist ramming against the space at the side of Sousuke’s nose and he curses loudly enough for his voice to ring out the hallway because he thinks his nose might actually be fucking broken, so he reaches up and pulls Makoto down by his collar, their faces nearly touching as their hot breath mixes between them, and he rolls them over again.

Sousuke lifts Makoto up by his shirt before slamming him hard against the linoleum floor, the impact to his skull letting off a sharp resounding thud, and the brunet’s grappling fingers at his enemy’s wrists slacken. It hurts to raise his arm back for one last punch but he does it anyway, though he hesitates at the look in Makoto’s half-lidded, pained eyes, at the scorn that still dwells in his green irises despite facing his imminent defeat.

“Sousuke? What the hell are you - Makoto?!”

Rin’s voice is surprised at first, but it quickly morphs into anger at the sight in front of him. He stalks straight down the hall just as the two brawlers glance up and he forcefully yanks Sousuke backwards by the jacket while Haru tries his best to help Makoto onto his feet. Thankfully, neither of them have to hold their much taller friends back from going again at one another, seeing as to how their eyes are cast shamefully to opposing walls as Rin reprimands them.

“Why the fuck are you guys fighting each other?” he demands, hands itching to throw his friend against the wall but, judging by the bruise already forming at the end of his mouth, complete with a split lip and bleeding nose, he decides Sousuke’s had enough.

He turns his attention to the one responsible for the blood, regarding with quiet shock the way Makoto is feeling tenderly at his aching jaw and throat, and how he dabs at the blood staining his upper lip as though he’s surprised it’s there, and shouts, “And you, Makoto? What’s gotten into you! You’d never do this kind of thing. You’d never hurt anyone on purpose.”

Sousuke is in awe at how perfectly Tachibana has drained away every ounce of malice and contempt from those eyes of his, and now they swim moistly with regret and shame. Sousuke makes a ‘tch’ noise, and Rin turns back his purely disappointed and pissed off eyes to him, still waiting for an answer from either offender.

“Whatever. Just clean yourselves up, and you’d better hope no one sees you like this. They’ll wonder if we’re not back for the relay,” he says with a shake of his head and a dismissive wave. He storms ahead and takes Haru with him, who casts a quiet glance behind him as if to wonder whether leaving those two alone is a good idea, but he walks ahead with Rin.

Makoto is already moving away as well, pressing the back of his hand to the sore behind his head, and he scrounges up the nerve to mumble out an, “I’m sorry,” as he exits the hall.

* * *

 

Literally a few moments later they’re all standing poolside with their teams, and while the small Mikoshiba kid blurts out, “Yamazaki-san, what happened to your face? Was it like that earlier?” he overhears the way Tachibana nervously evades his own teammate’s curious questions.

“Mako-chan, did someone punch you or something?” the blond asks, his tone playful though he stands on his tiptoes to get a more serious look at the darkening spot on Makoto’s face.

Just before entering the pool area, they both stood in the bathroom splashing water over their faces and examining their wounds in the mirror. Neither said a word to the other, and though the atmosphere could have been friendlier there was no threat of another fight breaking out, though all the while Sousuke snuck glances at the brunet and wondered where he tucked that other side away to. Although he was taking punches like they were nothing earlier, he makes a small pained whimper each time he prods at one of the quickly darkening contusions on his face. By the looks of it, both Rin and Nanase were every bit as surprised to see him act out like that, and, just as when he first saw that ruthless edge to Tachibana’s eyes, Sousuke feels very interested to know that it was him to bring all that out.

“N-no, nothing like that, I just - well, I think maybe - before we left, Ran hit me with a book on accident - and so - that’s probably what it is,” he says hastily, trying to stand away from Nagisa and praying that his nosebleed has stopped for good. Haru looks on silently.

“How hard did she hit you, Makoto-senpai? And how big was the book? Also, I’m sure that it should have begun to bruise much earlier than just now, seeing as to how it’s been over two hours since the start of the festival, and the scratches on your cheek must have come from a diff--”

A whistle sounds throughout the room and Makoto lets out an audible sigh as his team leaves him alone, albeit reluctantly, to ready themselves. Makoto spots his siblings and gives them a gleeful wave as they shout their support for him, and he hopes that at this distance they won’t be able to notice anything wrong with him.

No one else but Haru and Rin are aware of what happened, but even so he’s afraid that the matching bruises and torn skin that he and Yamazaki-kun are sporting will tip someone else off.

However, he has to admit that all the adrenaline still in his body from that skirmish has him swimming with a little more enthusiasm this time around. After the race, he almost wants to thank Yamazaki-kun for the boost.

**Author's Note:**

> like everything else, this will turn into smut later rest assured  
> i wrote [this post first](http://soumakofics.tumblr.com/post/97093294306/ever-since-episode-two-ive-wanted-makoto-and) and then wrote this and put off updates bc im trash  
> also don't laugh at my title... lmao why did i title it that i--


End file.
